Colleges: WPI men’s basketball coach trusts young vibes

Wednesday

Dec 12, 2012 at 6:00 AM

Jennifer Toland Colleges

WPI men’s basketball coach Chris Bartley got away from naming or electing captains about 10 years ago, opting and hoping for more of a collective leadership effort from his teams. The approach obviously has worked as the Engineers’ nine straight 20-win seasons and six NCAA tournament appearances in the last decade indicate.

This year, though, Bartley has been so impressed with the leadership skills of sophomore guards Marco Coppola and Sam Longwell that he appointed them co-captains, a pretty big honor for the young stars.

“I just felt going into this season we needed to define the future of our program and who were going to be the role models for the young guys,” said Bartley, who is in his 12th year at WPI. “I think they’re the two best players and our whole thing has always been that your best players are going to be your leaders, your role models. When your best players have bought in, then usually everyone falls in line.”

The Engineers went 20-7 last year and captured the ECAC New England Division 3 championship after coming up short of the NCAA tournament. Eleven players on this season’s 15-man roster are freshmen or sophomores, so maybe 2012-13 might finally be a rebuilding year.

Or maybe not.

At 10-0, WPI is on a roll and off to its best start since 2005-06. The Engineers checked in at No. 19 in this week’s D3hoops.com Top 25 poll.

“From day one, we’ve been working so hard as a team,” Longwell said. “We have great chemistry. Everyone wants to win and we have a lot of fun doing it.”

In a crazy 15-day stretch, the Engineers posted seven wins, including an 89-85 overtime victory at Husson and a thrilling, 78-75 triumph at Fitchburg State, compliments of freshman Aaron Davis’ buzzer-beating 3-pointer.

Two days before the win over the Falcons, WPI registered its most notable victory of the season so far, a 79-68 triumph over nationally-ranked Rhode Island College.

“We were confident going in,” Longwell said. “We all believed in each other and we won big games before. It felt great to win.”

The 6-foot Coppola, the NEWMAC and ECAC Division 3 New England Rookie of the Year in 2011-12, is averaging a team-high 19.8 points. The 6-3 Longwell is right behind at 17.3 and has been the team’s top scorer in five games.

“With those two, it’s been more of the intangible stuff,” Bartley said. “They have a good way of leading the guys who are freshmen and working with the older guys who might not be named ‘captain’ but have some leadership responsibilities. They’re playing with confidence and we’re playing with great chemistry. There’s just a good vibe out there.”

Winter break, unfortunately, is interrupting WPI’s momentum. The Engineers don’t play again until Dec. 30.

“As a competitor, you want to keep playing,” Coppola said, “but the time off will be good, too, to work on some things and to rest up.”

Coppola, who averaged 14 points on 53 percent shooting as a freshman, will be among the beneficiaries of the break. He is dealing with a right ankle injury, originally suffered in last year’s ECAC semifinals, which flared up again early in the season.

Coppola opened the year with a 33-point, 10-rebound effort against Castleton State.

WPI won its first seven games last season and started 6-0 in both 2009-10 and 2008-09. The 2005-06 team also began 10-0.

When Matt LaBove entered the Hart Center before Saturday’s game against Holy Cross and saw so many family and friends, his old St. John’s High teammates and Pioneers coach Bob Foley in the bleachers, the Dartmouth senior center couldn’t help but flash back to his outstanding high school career, during which he scored more than 1,000 points and helped St. John’s to back-to-back Central Mass. Division 1 titles.

“It feels like the district championship game was yesterday,” LaBove said after his team’s 67-56 loss.

The 6-foot-9, 235-pound LaBove, who grew up in Shrewsbury, has endured three straight losing seasons at Dartmouth, a coaching change his freshman year, and a 2-5 start this year.

A three-time T&G Super Team selection, LaBove made 16 starts his first season at Dartmouth and ranked second on the team in rebounding. His minutes are way down this year — he’s averaging 3.8 minutes off the bench — but he has persevered and was elected a team captain for 2012-13.

“It means a lot,” LaBove said. “In high school everything usually came easy. In college, there have been a lot more struggles. (The captaincy) is just sort of a culmination of four years and my hard work along the way. I would have liked to get more wins like I did when I was in high school, but we’re working hard every day and we have a lot of young players.”

LaBove is the only senior on the roster, which includes seven freshmen.

LaBove logged 9 minutes and pulled down 4 rebounds against Holy Cross. There is no doubt he’s the Big Green’s leader, as evidenced by his constant encouragement of his younger teammates.

“I feel like one of the things I have to teach the young guys is you have to bring enthusiasm and energy for 40 minutes,” LaBove said. “From the bench, I try to bring that and when I step on to the court, too, that’s what I try to do.”

LaBove’s younger brother, Chad, is a junior at WPI and averaging 2.5 points and 1.7 rebounds.

As part of its season-long celebration of March Madness, the NCAA has named the top 75 all-time March Madness players, 25 all-time March Madness teams, and 35 all-time March Madness moments.

Former Holy Cross star George Kaftan made the list of top players and the 1946-47 Holy Cross NCAA national championship team was named one of the top teams.

Kaftan, a sophomore on that title team, set a school record for points in a season and scored 18 against Oklahoma in the national championship game. Kaftan was among the first to have his uniform number raised to the rafters at the Hart Center.

Starting in early January, fans can vote to help determine the top 15 all-time March Madness players, the single best all-time March Madness team, and the single best all-time March Madness moment in NCAA tournament history. The honorees will be introduced at the 2013 Final Four in Atlanta.